Conceptual Framework for the Augmentation of Mans Intellect

An Information for Industry, Inc. Publication

VISTAS IN
INFORMATION
HANDLING

Volume I

THE AUGMENTATION OF
MAN’S INTELLECT
BY MACHINE

General Editor

PAUL W. HOWERTON

Vice-President, Information for Industry, Inc.
Associate Editor

DAVID C. WEEKS

Assistant General Manager, Communication Sciences Division
Information for Industry, Inc.

1963

Washington, D. C.

SPARTAN BOOKS

London

CLEAVER-HUME PRESS

Also published in Computer Supported Cooperative Work: A Book
of Readings, Irene Greif [Editor], Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.,
San Mateo, CA, 1988, pp. 107-126. Also published in Organization
and Groupware, T. Nishigaki [Editor], NtT Publishing, 1992._

Copyright © 1963 by Information for Industry, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 63-14865

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.
Sole distributors in Great Britain, the British Commonwealth
and the Continent of Europe:

CLEAVER-HUME PRESS
10-15 St. Martins Street
London W. C. 2

11

PREFACE

The high and formal discussions of learned men end oftentimes m drsputes about
Ji n«n«, with which (.ccordihg to the »» .nd wisdom »f ^
maticians) it would be more prudent to begin, and so by means of definitions
reduce them to order.—Sir Francis Bacon, Aphorisms.

There are many fine treatises on the various applications of the new
machine tools for the extension of man’s ability to digest and understand
great volumes of data issuing from the research efforts of t^ world. It is
the purpose of this new series, Vistas in Information Handling, to
provide a forum for discussion of advanced thinking on the augmentation

of man’s intellect by these machines.

As editors of this series, we shall strive to report not only this advanced
thinking but also the application of older techniques to new purposes.
If differences of scientific opinion need to be aired, let these differences
be explicated by their proponents in full debate. We welcome such

^"^Tb employ Francis Bacon’s phrase quoted above, much “high and
formal discussion’’ frequently involves one or more of the transcendent
subdisciplines of the communication sciences. We have, therefore, intro¬
duced our series with a collection of reports which start with a concept
for augmenting man’s intellect; we then examine natural language the
means by which this augmentation is symbolized. , , #•

We have invited discussion of associative memory, of mo e s or
structural analysis of natural language, and of empirical results o
* language data processing. Because illustration is always useful m under-
* < staLng advanced concepts, we have included the subject of literature
processing in a discipline (chemistry), including solutions to problems
inherent in Japanese scientific and technical literature.

Finally, in the belief that application of known methods of information
handling to new purposes is a principal objective of science, we have
included papers on the development of critical scientific data (to try to
seek an answer to the question: “How critical is critical? ), and on t e
integration of engineering data processing with the automatization of

^%ur plan is to turn out two volumes a year, one dealing with “software
and advanced intellectual concept, the other with advanced design o
equipment.

iii

IV

PREFACE

With these goals in mind, we believe the Vistas in Inf ot mat ion
Handling will extend beyond the frontiers of present operative experi¬
ence, while at the same time maintaining a pragmatic balance between
concept and reality.

The authors of the nine papers in this book are too well known in
their respective fields to require restatement of their qualifications. Their
thoughts and works speak for themselves.

We gratefully acknowledge the encouragement of our colleagues in
Information for Industry, Incorporated. Special mention should be made
of the faith and perspicacity of Mr. Robert Teitler of Spartan Books,
who conceived the idea for this series.

February, 1963 Paul W. Howerton, General Editor

David C. Weeks, Associate Editor

CONTENTS

1 A Conceptual Framework for the Augmentation of Man’s
^ Intellect by Douglas C. Engelbart, Stanford Research Insti¬
tute, Menlo Park, California.

Man is confronted by increasingly complex problem situations which
require use of great stores of data and experience together with
artifacts of simplest to most sophisticated electronic aids. His
intellect, then, must be extended so that comprehension is better and
more quickly achieved with concomitant reaching of solutions to
these complex problem situations. This opening chapter provides a
conceptual framework for the augmentation of man’s intellect.

2 Linear Associative Information Retrieval by Vincent E.
Giuliano and Paul E. Jones, Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge,
Massachusetts.

The authors are concerned here with the recognition and exploitation
of word-term associations for the retrieval of documentary materials
to support the research or decision-making function of an organism.
A general theory of association and associative retrieval is based on
the use of linear transformations, both for establishing associations
among terms and for discriminating among documents. The theory
is illustrated by a simple experimental device.

3 Dimensioning in an Associative Memory by Benjamin F.
Cheydleur, The Philco Corporation, Computer Division, Willow
Grove, Pennsylvania. 55

A construct for associative memory multi-linkaging that is feasible
for ordinary computer memory permits progressively precise entry
into the region. A maximum of nine memory cycles (nine micro¬
seconds) is required for lexemes involving fewer than four polygrams
with one microsecond per polygram per item needed for establishment
of the association of concept. The general adaptability of any such
construct is an inverse function of the degree of redundancy in the
natural computer coding of items and descriptors.

V

VI

contents

4 Structural Models for Linguistic Automation by Win
fred P. Lehmann and Eugene Pendergraft, Linguistics Research
Center, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas. ^

Because written communication between humans involves combi¬
nations of symbols which may be words or ideographs, the logical
interaction of these copibinations must convey a concept. Since all
known languages have underlying similarities, it is entirely reasonable
to assume that structural models of modular form can be developed
to explicate the linguistic laws. Efforts have been made to accomplish
this purpose since antiquity, but only recently have the tools been
available to make full-scale comparisons between language structures.

5 Automatic Translation and Language Data Processing

by Leon E. Dostert, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C.. . 92

The fact, which must be accepted whether palatable or not, that
“perfect” translation of writings in one natural lanpage to another
is not humanly or mechanically achievable. Work in the automatic
translation of such materials has been underway for ten years. We
are now ready for a critical review by one of the real pioneers in the
field of the state-of-the art to determine courses of action for further
research. Standards of acceptance vary widely, but the outputs by
operating systems are useful. Implications of automatic translation
research in information handling are becoming more evident, as
semantic and syntactic laws are validated.

6 Homographs: Their Classification and Identification by

Milos Pacak, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C. Ill

Word-forms which are spelled alike but have entirely different
meanings and may even have different syntactic functions are called
homographs. Classification of word-forms in terms of traditional
grammar does not seem to be suitable for the purposes of automatic
language data processing. With exemplars from Russian-English
machine translation experience, a system of classification and identi¬
fication for machine handling of homographs is described.

7 Problems of the Chemical Literature and Some Solutions
bv Herman Skolnik, Hercules Powder Company, Wilmington,

Delaware.

For the augmentation of man’s intellect new professional classifica¬
tions have come into being in the scientific disciplines—the literature
scientist. The chemical profession has been the most vigorous in
developing such skills and training. The extension of the chemist’s
capability to comprehend the growing literature of a discipline which
is becoming more and more fragmental can have application in other

sciences.

CONTENTS

Vll

8 Problems Inherent in the Handling of Scientific and
Technical Information in Japan by Toshikazu Takayanagi,

Japan Information Center of Science and Technology, Tokyo,

Japan.

Language symbolism which has come down over the centuries can of
its.inherent nature create problem areas for augmenting man’s use
of the compilations of data and experience to solve his complex
situations. The Japanese language is a case-in-point. How the Japan
Information Center of Science and Technology has met and resolved
some of these difficulties can be useful in analogous situations
elsewhere.

9 The Production of Critical Scientific Data by Robert J.

Howerton, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, the University of
California, Livermore, California'.. . 192

The limitations of measuring devices and the decisions concerning
the best possible values for physical data have been the burden of
those scientists who develop critical data. Critical data are those
data to which critical evaluation has been applied by qualified com¬
pilers. But “how critical is critical?” The author suggests a means of
curtailing the volume of scientific publication by establishing stores
of the data-type reporting to which experimentalists may turn with
certainty of getting best possible values.

10 Toward Integration of Engineering Data Processing

and Automatization of Design by Borje Langefors, Svenska
Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (SAAB) Linkoping, Sweden. 201

All of the efforts to augment man’s intellect are of little practical
value unless from time to time the systems resulting from these efforts
can be applied. The work in Scandanavia toward using automatic
data-processing systems as an extension of engineering design is
significant. Although design is a highly creative work, the designer
must have means of reducing established principles and data to his
application. This aspect of design effort is well suited to automation.

CHAPTER 1

A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE
augmentation of MAN’S INTELLECT*

Douglas C. Engelbart

Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif.

INTRODUCTION

By “augmenting man’s intellect” we mean increasing the capability of
a man to approach a complex problem situation, gain comprehension to
suit his particular needs, and to derive solutions to problems. Increased
capability in this respect is taken to mean a mixture of the following:
that comprehension can be gained more quickly; that better compre¬
hension can be gained; that a useful degree of comprehension can be
gained where previously the situation was too complex; that solutions
can be produced more quickly; that better solutions can be produced;
that solutions can be found where previously the human could find none.
And by “complex situations” we include the professional problems of
diplomats, executives, social scientists, life scientists, physical scientists,
attorneys, designers—whether the problem situation exists for twenty
minutes or twenty years. We do not speak of isolated clever tricks that
help in particular situations. We refer to a way of life in an integrated
domain where hunches, cut-and-try, intangibles, and the human “feel
for a situation” usefully coexist with powerful concepts, streamlined
terminology and notation, sophisticated methods, and high-powered
electronic aids.

This paper covers the first phase of a program aimed at developing
means to augment the human intellect. These methods or devices can
include many things, all of which appear to be but extensions of those
developed and used in the past to help man apply his native sensory,
mental, and motor capabilities. We consider the total system of a human

* Partial support of this work was received from the Air Force Office of Scientific
Research, Directorate of Information Sciences, under Contract AF 49(638)-!024. This
paper is an excerpt from a summary report (AFOSR-3223) which also includes a
discussion of background material, a hypothetical description of a computer-based
augmentation system, and research recommendations. The paper could never have
been written without the considerable effort of Mrs. Rowena Swanson of the AFOSR,
who extracted and organized the material upon which this chapter is based.

1

2 VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

plus his augmentation devices and techniques as a proper field of search
for practical possibilities. This field constitutes a very important system
in our society; like most systems its performance can best be improved
by considering the whole as a set of interacting elements rather than a
number of isolated components.

This kind of system approach to human intellectual effectiveness does
not find a ready-made conceptual framework such as exists for estab¬
lished disciplines. Before a research program can pursue such an approach
intelligently, so as to derive practical benefits within a reasonable time
in addition to results of long-range significance, a conceptual framework
must be searched out—a framework that provides orientation as to the
important factors of the system, the relationships among these factors,
the types of change among the system factors that offer likely improve¬
ments in performance, and the kind of research goals and methodology
that seem promising.

Man’s population and gross product are increasing at a considerable
rate, but the complexity of his problems grows even faster. And the
urgency with which solutions must be found becomes steadily greater
in response to the increased rate of activity and the increasingly global
nature of that activity. Augmenting man’s intellect, in the sense defined
above, would warrant the full-time efforts of an enlightened society if its
leaders could be shown a reasonable approach and some plausible benefits.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study is to develop a conceptual framework for a
coordinated research and development program whose goals would be
the following: (1) to find the factors that limit the effectiveness of the
individual’s basic information-handling capabilities in meeting the
various needs of society for problem solving in its most general sense; and

(2) to develop new techniques, procedures, and systems that will better
adapt these basic capabilities to the needs, problems, and progress of
society. We have established the following specifications for this frame¬
work :

(1) It must provide perspective for both long-range basic research and
research that will yield immediate practical results.

(2) It must indicate what this augmentation will actually involve in
the way of changes in working environment, thinking, skills, and methods
of work.

(3) It must be a basis for evaluating and assimilating the possibly
relevant work and knowledge of existing fields.

(4) It must reveal areas where research is possible and indicate ways
to assess the research; must be a basis for choosing starting points and
developing appropriate methodologies for the needed research.

framework for the augmentation of man’s intellect 3

Two points need emphasis here. First, although a conceptual frame¬
work has been constructed, it is still rudimentary. Further search and
actual research are needed for the evolution of the framework. Second,
even with a basic framework, an apparently small modification can
significantly alter the results of the framework. The framework must
therefore be viewed as tentative, and not considered as a detailed
prediction or a collection of factual statements.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

A. GENERAL

The conceptual framework we seek must orient us toward the real
possibilities and problems associated with using modern technology to
give direct aid to an individual in comprehending complex situations,
isolating the significant factors, and solving problems. To gain this
orientation, we examine how individuals achieve their present level of
effectiveness, and expect that this examination will reveal possibilities
for improvement.

The entire effect of an individual on the world stems essentially from
what he can communicate to the world through his limited motor
channels. This communication, in turn, is based on information received
from the outside world through his limited sensory channels; on infor¬
mation, drives, and needs generated within him; and on his processing
of that information. His processing is of two kinds: that which he is
generally conscious of (recognizing patterns, remembering, visualizing,
abstracting, deducing, inducing, etc.), and that involving self-generated
information, unconscious processing and mediating of received infor¬
mation, and mediating of conscious processing itself.

The individual does not use this information or processing to grapple
directly with the sort of complex situation in which we seek to give him
help. He uses his innate capabilities in a rather indirect fashion, since the
situation is generally too complex to yield directly to his motor actions,
and always too complex to yield comprehensions and solutions from
direct sensory inspection and use of basic cognitive capabilities. For
instance, an aborigine who possesses all of our basic sensoty-mental-
motor capabilities but does not possess our background of indirect
knowledge and procedure cannot organize the proper direct actions
necessary to drive a car through traffic, request a book from the library,
call a committee meeting to discuss a tentative plan, call someone on the
telephone, or compose a letter on the typewriter.

Our culture has evolved means for us to organize and utilize our basic
capabilities so that we can comprehend truly complex situations and
accomplish the processes of devising and implementing problem solutions.

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

The ways in which human capabilities are thus extended are here called

augmentation means, and we define four basic classes of them:

1. ^rt//acfs—physical objects designed to provide for human
comfort, the manipulation of things or materials, and the manipu¬
lation of symbols.

2. Language—the way in which the individual classifies the picture
of his world into the concepts that his mind uses to model that
world, and the symbols that he attaches to those concepts and uses
in consciously manipulating the concepts (“thinking”).

3. Methodology the methods, procedures, and strategies with
which an individual organizes his goal-centeted (problem-solving)
activity.

4. Training—the conditioning needed by the individual to bring his
skills in using augmentation means 1, 2, and 3 to the point where
they are operationally effective.

The system we wish to improve can thus be visualized as comprising
a trained human being together with his artifacts, language, and method¬
ology. The explicit new system we contemplate will involve as artifacts
computers and computer-controlled information-storage, information¬
handling, and information-display devices. The aspects of the conceptual
framework that are discussed here are primarily those relating to the
individual’s ability to make significant use of such equipment in an
integrated system.

Pervading all of the augmentation means is a particular structure or
organization. While an untrained aborigine cannot drive a car through
traffic because he cannot leap the gap between his cultural background
and the kind of world that contains cars and traffic, it is possible for him
to move step by step through an organized training program that will
enable him to drive effectively and safely. In other words, the human
mind neither learns nor acts by large leaps, but by a series of small steps
so organized or structured that each one depends upon previous steps.

Although the size of the step a human being can take in comprehension,
innovation, or execution is small in comparison to the over-all size of the
step needed to solve a complex problem, human beings nevertheless do
solve complex problems. It is the augmentation means that serve to
subdivide a large problem in such a way that the human being can walk
through It m little steps. The structure or organization of these little
steps or actions we designate as process hierarchies.

Every thought process or action is composed of subprocesses. Such
subprocesses include making a pencil stroke, writing a memo, or devising
a plan. An appreciable number of discrete muscle movements must be
coordinated to make a pencil stroke. Similarly, making particular pencil

framework for the augmentation of man’s INTELLECT 5

strokes and composing a memo are complex processes in themselves
which are subprocesses to the over-all writing of the memo.

Although every subprocess is a process in its own right in that it
consists of further subprocesses, there is no advantage here in isolating
the ultimate “bottom” of the process-hierarchical structure. There may
be no way of determining whether the apparent “bottom” (processes
that cannot be further subdivided) exist in the physical world or in the i
limitations of human understanding. In any case, it is not necessary to
begin from the “bottom” in discussing particular. process hierarchies.
No person uses a completely unique process every time he performs a
new task. Instead, he begins from a group of basic, sensory-mental-motor
process capabilities, and adds to these certain of the process capabilities
of his artifacts. There are only a finite number of such basic human and
artifact capabilities from which to draw. Moreover, even quite different
higher-order processes may have in common relatively high-order
subprocesses.

When a person writes a memo (a reasonably high-order process), he
makes use of many processes as subprocesses that are common to other
high-order processes. For example, he makes use of planning, composing,
dictating. The process of writing a memo is utilized as a subprocess
within many different processes of a still higher order, such as organizing
a committee, changing a policy, and so on.

It is likely that each individual develops a certain repertory of process
capabilities from which he selects and adapts those that will compose
the processes that he executes. This repertory is like a tool kit. Just as
the mechanic must know what his tools can do and how to use them, so
the intellectual worker must know the capabilities of his tools and have
suitable methods, strategies, and rules of thumb for making use of them.
All of the process capabilities in the individual’s repertory rest ultimately
on basic capabilities within him or his artifacts, and the entire repertory
represents an integrated, hierarchical structure (which we often call the
repertory hierarchy).

We find three general categories of process capabilities within a
typical individual’s repertory: (1) those executed completely within the
human integument, which we call explicit-human process capabilities;

(2) those possessed by artifacts for executing processes without human
intervention, which we call explicit-artifact process capabilities; and

(3) those we call the composite process capabilities, which are derived
from hierarchies containing both of the other kinds.

We assume that it is our H-LAM/T system (Human using Language,
Artifacts, and Methodology, in which he is Trained) that performs a
process in any instance of use of this repertory. Let us consider the
process of issuing a memorandum. There is a particular concept associ¬
ated with this process—that of putting information into a formal package

6

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

7

and distributing it to a set of people for a certain kind of consideration.
That the type of information package associated with this concept has
been giv^ the special name of memorandum shows the denominating
effect of this process on the system language.

The memo-writing process may be executed by using a set of process
capabilities (intermixed or repetitive form) such as planning, developing
subject matter, composing text, producing hard copy, and distributing.
There is a definite way in which these subprocesses are organized that
represents part of the system methodology. Each of these subprocesses
represents a functional concept that must be a part of the system
language if it is to be organized effectively into the human's way of doing
things, and the symbolic portrayal of each concept must be such that
the human can work with it and remember it.

If the memo is short and simple, the first three processes may be of
the explicit-human type (i.e., the memo may be planned, developed and
composed within the mind), and the last two of the composite type. If it
is complex, involving a good deal of careful planning and development,
then all of the subprocesses may be of the composite type (at least
including the use of pencil and paper artifacts), and there may be many
different applications of some of the process capabilities within the total
process (successive drafts, revised plans).

Executing the above-listed set of subprocesses in proper sequence
represents an execution of the memo-writing process. However, the very
process of organizing and supervising the utilization of these subprocess
capabilities is itself a most important subprocess of the memo-writing
process. Hence the subprocess capabilities as listed would not be complete
without the addition of a seventh, which we call the execuiive capability.
This is the capability stemming from habit, strategy, rules of thumb,
prejudice, learned method, intuition, unconscious dictates, or combina¬
tions thereof, to utilize the appropriate subprocess capabilities in a
particular sequence and timing. An executive process (i.e., the exercise
of an executive capability) involves such subprocesses as planning,
selecting, and supervising; it is within the executive processes that the
methodology in the H-LAM/T system is embodied.

To illustrate the capability-hierarchy features of our conceptual
framework, let the reader consider an artifact innovation appearing
directly within the relatively low-order capability for composing and
modifying written text, and see how this can afifect his hierarchy of
capabilities. Suppose you had a new writing machine^—a high-speed
electric typewriter with some very special features. You can operate its
keyboard to cause it to write text much as with a conventional type¬
writer. But the printing mechanism is more complicated; besides printing
a visible character at every stroke, it adds special encoding features by
means of invisible selective components in the ink and special shaping of

framework for the AUGMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT

As an auxiliary device, there is a gadget that is held like a pencil and,
instead of a point, has a special sensing mechanism which can be moved
along a line of the special printing from your writing machine (or one
like it). The signals which this reading stylus sends through the flexible
connecting wire to the writing machine are used to determine which
characters are being sensed, thus causing the automatic typing of a
duplicate string of characters. An information-storage mechanism in the
writing machine permits you to sweep the reading stylus over the
characters much faster than the writer can type; the writer will catch up
with you when you stop to think about what word or string of words
should be duplicated next, or while you reposition the straightedge guide
along which you run the stylus.

This hypothetical writing machine thus permits you to use a new
process of composing text. For instance, trial drafts can rapidly be
composed from rearranged excerpts of old drafts, together with new
words or passages which you insert by hand typing. Your first draft may
represent a free outpouring of thoughts in any order, with the inspection
of foregoing thoughts continuously stimulating new considerations and
ideas to be entered. If the tangle of thoughts represented by the draft
becomes too complex, you can compile a reordered draft quickly. It would
be practical for you to accommodate more complexity in the trails of
thought you might build in search of the path that suits your needs.

You can integrate your new ideas more easily, and thus harness your
creativity more continuously, if you can quickly and flexibly change
your working record. If it is easier to update any part of your working
record to accommodate new developments in thought or circumstance,
you will find it easier to incorporate more complex procedures in your
way of doing things. This will probably allow you, for example, to
accommodate the extra burden associated with keeping and using special
files whose contents are both contributed to and utilized by any current
work in a flexible manner—which in turn enables you to devise and use
even more complex procedures to better harness your talents in your
particular working situation.

The important thing to appreciate here is that a direct new innovation
in one particular capability can have far-reaching effects throughout the
rest of your capability hierarchy. A change can propagate up through
the capability hierarchy, higher-order capabilities that can utilize the
initially changed capability can now reorganize to take special advantage
of this change and of the intermediate higher-capability changes. A
change can propagate down through the hierarchy as a result of new
capabilities at the high level and modification possibilities latent in lower
levels. These latent capabilities may have been previously unusable in
the hierarchy and become usable because of the new capability at the
higher level.

_

_i_

8 VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

The writing machine and its flexible copying capability would occupy
you for a long time if you tried to exhaust the reverberating chain of
associated possibilities for making useful innovations within your
capability hierarchy. This one innovation could trigger a rather extensive
redesign of this hierarchy; your method of accomplishing many of your
tasks would change considerably. Indeed, this process characterizes the
sort of evolution that our intellect-augmentation means have been
undergoing since the first human brain appeared.

For our objective of deriving orientation about possibilities for actively
pursuing an increase in human intellectual effectiveness, it is important
to realize that we must be prepared to pursue such new-possibility chains
throughout the entire capability hierarchy (calling for a “system^'
approach). It is also important to realize that we must be oriented to the
synthesis of new capabilities from reorganization of other capabilities,
both old and new, that exist throughout the hierarchy (a “system¬
engineering” approach).

B. THE BASIC PERSPECTIVE

Individuals who operate effectively in our culture have already been
considerably “augmented.” Basic human capabilities for sensing stimuli,
performing numerous mental operations, and communicating with the
outside world are put to work in our society within a system—an H-
LAM/T system—the individual augmented by the language, artifacts,
and methodology in which he is trained. Furthermore, we suspect that
improving the effectiveness of the individual as he operates in our society
should be approached as a system-engineering problem—that is, the
H-LAM/T system should be studied as an interacting whole from a
synthesis-oriented approach.

This view of the system as an interacting whole is strongly bolstered
by considering the repertory hierarchy of process capabilities that is
structured from the basic ingredients within the H-LAM/T system. The
realization that any potential change in language, artifact, or method¬
ology has importance only relative to its use within a process, and that
a new process capability appearing anywhere within that hierarchy can
make practical a new consideration of latent change possibilities in many
other parts of the hierarchy—possibilities in either language, artifacts,
or methodology—brings out the strong interrelationship of these three
augmentation means.

Increasing the effectiveness of the individual’s use of his basic capa¬
bilities is a problem in redesigning the changeable parts of a system. The
system is actively engaged in the continuous processes (among others) of
developing comprehension within the individual and of solving problems;
both processes are subject to human motivation, purpose, and will.
Redesigning the system’s capability for performing these processes means

FRAMEWORK FOR THE AUGMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT 9

redesigning all or part of the repertory hierarchy. To redesign a structure
we must learn as much as we can about the basic materials and com¬
ponents as they are utilized within the structure; beyond that, we must
learn how to view, measure, analyze, and evaluate in terms of the
functional whole and its purpose. In this particular case, no existing
analytic theory is by itself adequate for the purpose of analyzing and
evaluating over-all system performance; pursuit of an improved system
thus demands the use of experimental methods.

It need not be solely the sophisticated or formal process capabilities
that are added or modified in the redesign. Even so apparently minor an
advance as artifacts for rapid mechanical duplication and rearrangement
of text during the course of creative thought process could yield changes
in an individual’s repertory hierarchy that would represent a great
increase in over-all effectiveness. Normally we might expect such equip¬
ment to appear slowly on the market; changes from old procedures would
be small, and only gradually would the accumulated changes create
markets for more radical versions of the equipment. Such an evolutionary
process has been typical of the way our repertory hierarchies have
formed and grown.

But an active research effort, aimed at exploring and evaluating
possible integrated changes throughout the repertory hierarchy, could
greatly accelerate this evolutionary process. The research effort could
guide the product development of new artifacts toward taking long-range
meaningful steps; simultaneously, competitively minded individuals who
would respond to demonstrated methods for achieving greater personal
effectiveness would create a market for the more radical equipment
innovations. The guided evolutionary process could be expected to be
considerably more rapid than the traditional one.

The category of “more radical innovations” includes the digital
computer as a tool for the personal use of an individual. Here there is not
only promise of great flexibility in the composing and rearranging of text
and diagrams before the individual’s eyes, but also promise of many
other process capabilities that can be integrated into the H-LAM/T
system’s repertoire hierarchy.

C. DETAILS OF THE H-LAM/T SYSTEM
1. Synergism* as the Source of Intelligence

If we ask ourselves where human intelligence is embodied, our present
state of knowledge forces us to concede that it appears to be elusively
distributed throughout a hierarchy of functional processes—a hierarchy

* Synergism, is a term used by biologists and physiologists to designate (from
Iyobs^er’s New International Dictionary, 2d ed.) the . . cooperative action of
♦discrete agencies such that the total effect is greater than the sum of the two effects
'aken independently . . .”

10 VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

whose foundation extends into natural processes beyond the level of
present definition. Intelligence, however, seems primarily to be associated
with organization. All of the social, biological, and physical phenomena
we observe about us seem to derive from a supporting hierarchy of
organized functions (or processes), in which the principle of synergism
applies to give increased phenomenological sophistication to each
succeedingly higher level of organization. In particular, the intelligence
of a human being, which appears to be derived ultimately from the signal-
response characteristics of individual nerve cells, is a synergistic phe¬
nomenon.

2. Intelligence Amplification

During the course of this study, we had originally rejected the term
intelligence ampHBcation, (initially used by W, Ross Ashby* 0 to
characterize our objectives. Instead, we characterized them as the
attempt to make a better match between existing human intelligence
and problems to be solved. But we have come to accept the foregoing
term in a special sense that does not imply any attempt to increase native
human intelligence. Intelligence amplification seems applicable to our
goal (of augmenting the human intellect) in that the entity to be pro¬
duced will exhibit more of what can be called intelligence than an unaided
human could demonstrate. That which possesses the amplified intelli¬
gence is the resulting H-LAM/T system, in which the LAM/T augmen¬
tation means represent the amplifier of the individuars intelligence.

In amplifying human intelligence we are applying the principle of
synergistic structuring that pertains in the natural evolution of basic
human capabilities. What our culture has done in the development of
our means of augmentation is to construct a superstructure that is a
synthetic extension of the biologically derived sensory-mental-motor
structure on which it is built. In a very real sense, the development of
‘‘artificial intelligence'* has been going on for centuries,

3. Two-Domain System

The human together with his artifacts comprise the only physical
components in the H-LAM/T system. It is upon their combined capa¬
bilities that the ultimate capability of the system will depend. This
conclusion was implied in the earlier statement that every composite
process of the system decomposes ultimately into explicit-human and
explicit-artifact processes. There are thus two separate domains of
activity within the H-LAM/T system: that represented by the human,
in which all explicit-human processes occur, and that represented by the
artifacts, in which all explicit-artifact processes occur. In any composite
process there is cooperative interaction between the two domains,
requiring interchange of energy (much of it for information exchange

FRAMEWORK FOR THE AUGMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT 11

Outside world

Fig. 1.1. Representation of the two active domains within the H-LAM/T System.

purposes only). Figure 1.1 depicts this two-domain concept and embodies
other concepts discussed below.

Where a complex machine represents the principal artifact with which
a human being cooperates, the term man-machine interface has been
used for some years to represent the boundary across which energy is
exchanged between the two domains. However, the man-artifact
interface has existed for centuries, ever since humans began using
artifacts and executing composite processes.

Exchange across this “interface” occurs when an explicit-human
process is coupled to an explicit-artifact process. Quite often these
coupled processes are designed for just this exchange purpose, to provide
a functional match between other explicit-human and explicit-artifact
processes buried within their respective domains that do the more
significant things. For instance, the finger and hand motions (explicit-
human processes) activate key-linkage motions in the typewriter
(coupled to explicit-artifact processes). But these are .only part of the
matching processes between the deeper human processes that direct a
given word to be typed and the more involved artifact processes that
actually imprint the ink marks on the paper.

The outside world interacts with our H-LAM/T system by the
exchange of energy with either the individual or his artifact. Again,

12 VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

special processes are often designed to accommodate this exchange.
However, the direct concern of our present study lies within the system,
with the internal processes that are and can be significantly involved in
the effectiveness of the system in developing the human^s comprehension
and pursuing the human’s goals.

4. Concepts, Symbols, and a Hypothesis

Before we pursue further direct discussion of the H-LAM/T system,
let us examine some background material. There is a certain progression
in the development of our intellectual capabilities—not necessarily
historical—that can shed light on the human part of the system:

4.1. Concept Manipulation. Humans have the biological capa¬
bility for developing abstractions and concepts. They can mentally
manipulate these concepts to a certain extent, and **think” about
situations in the abstract. Their mental capabilities allow them to
develop general concepts from specific instances, predict specific instances
from general concepts, associate concepts, remember them, etc. We
speak here of concepts in their raw, unverbalized form. For example, a
person letting a door swing shut behind him suddenly visualizes a person
behind him carrying a cup of hot coffee and some sticky pastries. Of all
the aspects of the impending event, the spilling of the coffee and the
squashing of the pastry somehow are abstracted immediately and
associated with a concept of personal responsibility combined with a
fear of the consequences. But a solution comes to mind immediately as
an image of a quick stop and an arm extended back toward the door,
with motion and timing that could prevent the collision, and the solution
is accepted and enacted. With only nonverbal concept manipulation, we
could probably build primitive shelter, evolve strategies of war, hunt,
play games, and make practical jokes. But further powers of intellectual
effectiveness are implicit in this stage of biological evolution (the same
stage we are in today).

4.2. Symbol Manipulation. Humans made another great step
forward when they learned to represent particular concepts in their
minds with specific symbols. Here we temporarily disregard communi¬
cative speech and writing and consider only the direct value to the
individual of being able to do his heavy thinking by mentally manipu¬
lating symbols instead of the more unwieldy concepts which they
represent. Consider, for instance, the mental difficulty involved in
herding twenty-seven sheep if, instead of remembering one cardinal
number and occasionally counting, we had to remember what each sheep
looked like, so that if the flock seemed too small we could visualize each
one and check whether or not it was there.

4.3. Manual, External, Symbol Manipulation, Another signifi¬
cant step toward harnessing the biologically evolved mental capabilities

framework for the augmentation of man’s intellect 13

in pursuit of comprehension and problem solutions came with the
development of the means for externalizing some of the symbol-manipu¬
lation activity—particularly in graphic representation, which supple¬
ments the individual’s memory and ability to visualize. (We are not
concerned here with the value derived from human cooperation made
possible by speech and writing, both forms of external symbol manipu¬
lation, but with the manual means of making graphic representations of
symbols—a stick and sand, pencil and paper and eraser, straightedge or
compass, and so on.) It is principally this kind of means for external
symbol manipulation that has been associated with the evolution of the
individual’s present way of manipulating his concepts (thinking).

It is undoubtedly true that concepts which people found useful became
incorporated as symbols in their language. However, Korzybski® and
Whorf'* (among others) have argued that the language we use affects our
thinking to a considerable extent. They say that a lack of words for some
types of concepts makes it difficult to express those concepts, and thus
decreases the likelihood that we will learn much about them. If this is
so, once a language has begun to grow and be used it would seem reason¬
able to suspect that the language also affects the evolution of the new
concepts to be expressed in that language.

Apparently there are counter-arguments to this; e.g., if a concept
needs to be used often but its expression is difficult, then the language
will evolve to ease the situation. However, the studies of the past decade
into what are called self-organizing systems seem to reveal that subtle
relationships among interacting elements can significantly influence the
course of evolution of such a system. If this is true, and if language is
(as it seems to be) a part of a self-organizing system, then it appears
probable that the state of a language at a given time strongly affects its
own evolution to a succeeding state.

For our conceptual framework, we tend to favor the view that a
language does exert a force in its own evolution. We observe that the
shift over the last few centuries in matters that are of daily concern to
the individual has necessarily been forced into the framework of the
language existing at the time, with alterations generally limited to new
uses for old words, or to the coining of new words. The English language
since Shakespeare has undergone no alteration comparable to the
alteration in the cultural environment; if it had, Shakespeare would no
longer be accessible to us. Under such evolutionary conditions, it would
seem unlikely that the language we now use provides the best possible
service to our minds in pursuing comprehension and solving problems.
It seems very likely that a more useful language form can be devised.

The Whorfian hypothesis states that “the world view of a culture is
limited by the structure of the language which the culture uses.” But
there seems to be another factor to consider in the evolution of language

14

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

and human reasoning ability. We offer the following hypothesis, which
is related to the Whorfian hypothesis: Both the language used by a
culture, and the capability for effective intellectual activity, are directly
affected during their evolution by the means by which individuals
control the external manipulation of symbols. (For identification, we will
refer to this later on as the Neo-Whorfian hypothesis.)

If the Neo-Whorfian hypothesis could be proved readily, and if we
could see how our means of externally manipulating symbols influence
both our language and our way of thinking, then we would have a
valuable instrument for studying human-augmentation possibilities. For
the sake of discussion, let us assume the Neo-Whorfian hypothesis to be
true, and see what relevant deductions can be made.

If the means evolved for an individual's external manipulation of his
thinking-aid symbols indeed directly affect the way in which he thinks,
then the original Whorfian hypothesis would offer an added effect. The
direct effect of the external-symbol-manipulation means on language
would produce an indirect effect on the way of thinking via the Whorfian-
hypothesis linkage. There would then be two ways for our external
symbol manipulation to affect our thinking.

One way of viewing the H-LAM/T system changes that we contem¬
plate—specifically, integrating the capabilities of a digital computer into
the intellectual activity of humans—is that we are introducing new and
extremely advanced means for externally manipulating symbols. We
then want to determine the useful modifications in the language and in
the way of thinking that could result. This suggests a fourth stage to the
evolution of our human intellectual capability.

4.4. Automated External Symbol Manipulation. In this stage,
the symbols with which the human represents the concepts he is manip¬
ulating can be arranged before his eyes, moved, stored, recalled, operated
upon according to extremely complex rules—all in very rapid response to
a minimum amount of information supplied by the human, by means of
special cooperative technological devices. In the limit of what we might
now imagine, this could be a computer, with which individuals could
communicate rapidly and easily, coupled to a three-dimensional color
display within which extremely sophisticated images could be
constructed, the computer being able to execute a wide variety of
processes on parts or all of these images in automatic response to human
direction. The displays and processes could provide helpful services and
could involve concepts not hitherto imagined (e.g., the pregraphic
thinker would have been unable to predict the bar graph, the process of
long division, or card file system).

In searching for some simple ways to determine what the Neo-Whorfian
hypothesis might imply, we might imagine some relatively straight-

framework for the augmentation of man’s intellect 15

forward means of increasing our external symbol-manipulation capability
and try to picture the consequent changes that could evolve in our
language and methods of thinking. For instance, imagine that our
budding technology of a few generations ago had developed an artifact
that was essentially a high-speed, semiautomatic table-lookup device,
cheap enough for almost everyone to afford and small and light enough
to be carried on the person. Assume that individual cartridges sold by
manufacturers (publishers) contained the lookup information, that one
cartridge could hold the equivalent of an unabridged dictionary, and
that a one-paragraph definition could always be located and displayed
on the face of the device by the average practiced individual in less than
three seconds. What changes in language and methodology might not
result? If it were so easy to look things up, how would our vocabulary
develop, how would our habits of exploring the intellectual domains of
others shift, how might the sophistication of practical organization
mature (if each person could so quickly and easily look up applicable
rules), how would our education system change to take advantage of
this new external symbol-manipulation capability of students and
teachers and administrators?

The significance to our study of this discussion lies in the perspective
it gives to the ways in which human intellectual effectiveness can be
altered by the particular device used by individuals for their external
symbol manipulation. These hypotheses imply great richness in the new
evolutionary spaces opened by progressing from Stage 3 to Stage 4. We
would like to study the hypotheses further, examining their possible
manifestations in our experience, ways of demonstrating their validity,
and possible deductions relative to going to Stage 4.

5. Capability Repertory Hierarchy

I The concept of our H-LAM/T system possessing a repertory of

I capabilities that is structured in the form of a hierarchy is most useful

j in our study. We shall use it below to tie together a number of considera-

j tions and concepts.

j There are two points of focus in considering the design of new repertory

i hierarchies: the materials with which we have to work, and the principles

I by which new capability is constructed from these basic materials.

[ 5.1. Basic Capabilities. Materials in this context are those capa-

\ bilities in the human and artifact domains from which all other capa¬

bilities in the repertory hierarchy must be constructed. Each such basic
capability represents a type of functional component with which the
I system can be built. Thorough redesigning of the system requires making

I an inventory of the basic capabilities available. Because we are exploring

I for perspective, and are not yet recommending research activities, we

I are free to discuss and define in more detail what we mean by ‘^basic

16

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

framework for the AUGMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT

17

capability” without regard to the amount of research involved in making
an actual inventory.

The two domains, human and artifact, can be explored separately for
their basic capabilities. In each we can isolate two classes of basic
capability—those classes distinguished according to whether or not the
capability has been put to use within our augmentation means. The first
class (those in use) can be found in a methodical manner by analyzing
present capability hierarchies. For example, select a given capability at
any level in the hierarchy and determine whether it can be usefully
changed by any means that can be given consideration in the augmen¬
tation research contemplated. If it can, then it is not basic but can be
decomposed into an eventual set of basic capabilities. Proceed through
the hierarchy; capabilities encountered which cannot be usefully changed
compose the basic capability inventory. Ultimately, for every such
recursive decomposition of a given capability in the hierarchy, every one
of the branching paths will terminate in basic capabilities. Many of the
branching paths in the decomposition of a given higher-order capability
will terminate in the same basic capability, since a given basic capability
will often be used within many different higher-order capabilities.

Determining the class of basic capabilities not already utilized within
existing augmentation systems requires a different exploration method.
Examples of this method occur in technological research, where analyt¬
ically oriented researchers search for new understandings of phenomena
that can add to the research engineer’s list of things to be used in the
synthesis of better artifacts.

Before this inventorying task can be pursued in any specific instance,
some criteria must be established as to what possible changes within the
H-LAM/T system can be given serious consideration. For instance, some
research situations might have to disallow changes which require exten¬
sive retraining, or which require undignified behavior by the human.
Other situations might admit changes requiring years of special training,
very expensive equipment, or the use of special drugs.

The capability for performing a certain finger action, for example, may
not be basic in our sense of the word. Being able to extend the finger a
certain distance would be basic, but the strength and speed of a particular
finger motion and its coordination with higher actions generally are
usefully changeable and therefore do not represent basic capabilities.
What would be basic in this case would perhaps be the processes whereby
strength could be increased and coordinated movement patterns learned,
as well as the basic movement range established by the mechanical-limit
loci of the muscle-tendon-bone system. Similar capability breakdowns
will occur for sensory and cognitive capabilities.

5.2. Structure Types. The fundamental principle used in building
sophisticated capabilities from basic capabilities is structuring—the

special type of structuring (which we have termed synergistic) in which
the organization of a group of elements produces an effect greater than
the mere addition of their individual effects. Perhaps purposeful
structuring (or organization) would best express the need, but how the
structuring concept must mature is uncertain. We are developing growing
awareness of the significant and pervasive nature of structuring within
every physical and conceptual element we inspect, where the hierarchical
form seems almost universally present as stemming from successive levels
of organization.

The fundamental entity which is being structured in each and every
case seems to be what we could call a process, where the most basic of
physical processes (involving fields, charges, and moments associated
with the dynamics of fundamental particles) appear in every case as the
hierarchical base. Dynamic electro-optical-mechanical processes associ¬
ated with the function of our artifacts, and metabolic, sensory, motor,
and cognitive processes of the human, which we view as relatively
fundamental components within the structure of our H-LAM/T system,
each seems to be ultimately based (to our degree of understanding) on
the above-mentioned basic physical processes. The elements that are
organized to give fixed structural form to our physical objects (e.g., the
“element” of tensile strength of a material) are also derived from what
we could call synergistic structuring of the most basic physical processes.

At the level of the capability hierarchy where we wish to work, it
seems useful to distinguish several different types of structuring, even
though each type is fundamentally a structuring of the basic physical
processes. Tentatively we have isolated five such types, although we are
not sure how many we shall ultimately want to use in considering the
problem of augmenting the human intellect, nor how we might divide
and subdivide these different manifestations of physical-process struc¬
turing. We use the terms mental structuring, concept structuring,
symbol structuring, process structuring, and physical structuring.

5.2.1. Mental Structuring, Mental structuring we apply to the
internal organization of conscious and unconscious mental images,
associations, or concepts which somehow manage to provide the human
with understanding and the basis for judgment, intuition, inference, and
meaningful action with respect to his environment. (The psychologist’s
“cognitive structure” may be very near to what we need in our concept
of mental structure).

We do not now try to specify the fundamental mental “things” being
structured, nor the mechanisms that accomplish the structuring or the
use of that which has been structured. We feel reasonably safe in assuming
that learning involves some kind of meaningful organization within the
brain, and that whatever is so organized or structured represents the

18

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

FRAMEWORK FOR THE AUGMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT

19

operating model of the individual’s universe to the mental mechanisms
that derive his behavior. Further, our assumption is that when the
human in our H-LAM/T system makes the key decision or action that
leads to the solution of a complex problem, this action will stem from the
state of his mental structure at that time; the basic purpose of most of
the system’s activity on that problem up to that point was in developing
his mental structure to permit the mental mechanisms to derive a
solution from it.

We don’t know whether a structure is developed in a manner analogous
to (a) the development of a garden, where one provides a good environ¬
ment, plants the seeds, keeps competing weeds and injurious pests out,
but otherwise lets natural processes take their course, or (b) the develop¬
ment of a basketball team, where much exercise of skills, patterns, and
strategies must be provided so that natural processes can slowly knit
together an integration, or (c) the development of a machine, where
carefully formed elements are assembled in a precise, planned manner so
that natural phenomena can immediately yield planned function. We do
not know the processes, but we can develop and have developed em¬
pirical relationships between the experiences given a human and the
associated manifestations of developing comprehension and capability;
we see the near-future course of the research toward augmenting the
human intellect as depending entirely on empirical findings (past and
future) for the development of better means to serve the development
and use of mental structuring in the human.

We do not mean to imply by this that we renounce theories of mental
processes. What we mean to emphasize is that the pursuit of our objective
does not have to wait on understanding the mental processes that
accomplish what we call mental structuring and that derive behavior
therefrom. Not to make the fullest use of any theory, that provided a
working explanation for a group of empirical data would be to ignore the
emphases of our own conceptual framework.

5.2.2. Concept Structuring, Within our framework we have
developed the working assumption that the manner in which formal
experiences favor the development of mental structures is based largely
on concepts as ‘‘media of exchange.” We view a concept to be a tool
that can be grasped and used by the mental mechanisms, that can be
composed, interpreted, and used by natural mental substances and
processes. The grasping and processing done by these mechanisms can
often be accomplished more easily if the concept is explicitly represented
by a S 3 ^mbol. Somehow the mental mechanisms can learn to manipulate
images (or something) of symbols in a meaningful way and remain
calmly confident that the associated concepts are within call.

Concepts seem to be structurable in that a new concept can be com¬
posed of an organization of established concepts. For present purposes

we can view a concept structure as something which we might try to
develop on paper for ourselves or work with by conscious thought
processes, or as something which we try to communicate to one another
in serious discussion. We assume that for a given unit of comprehension
to be imparted there is a concept structure (which can be consciously
developed and displayed) that can be presented to an individual in such
a way that it is mapped into a corresponding mental structure which
provides the basis for that individual’s “comprehending” behavior. Our
working assumption also considers that some concept structures would
be better for this purpose than others, in that they would be more easily
mapped by the individual into workable mental structures, or in that
the resulting mental structures enable a higher degree of comprehension
and better solutions to problems, or both.

A concept structure often grows as part of a cultural evolution—either
on a large scale within a large segment of society, or on a small scale
within the activity domain of an individual. But it is also something that
can be directly designed or modified, and a basic hypothesis of our study
is that better concept structures can be developed—structures that when
mapped into a human’s mental structure will significantly improve his
capability to comprehend and to find solutions within his complex-
problem situations. A natural language provides its user with a ready¬
made structure of concepts that establishes a basic mental structure, and
that allows relatively flexible, general-purpose concept structuring. Our
concept of “language” as one of the basic means for augmenting the
human intellect embraces all of the concept structuring which the human
may make use of.

5.2.3. Symbol Structuring. The other important part of our
“language” concerns the way in which concepts are represented—the
symbols and symbol structures: by means of which words as structured
into phrases, sentences, paragraphs, monographs, or charts, lists, dia¬
grams, and tables. A given structure of concepts can be represented by
any one of an infinite number of different symbol structures, some of
which would be much better than others for enabling the human per¬
ceptual and cognitive apparatus to search out and comprehend the
conceptual matter of significance and/or interest. A concept structure
involving many numerical data, for example, would generally be better
represented with Arabic than Roman numerals; quite likely, a graphic
structure would be better than a tabular structure.

In our special framework, it is worth noting that a given concept
structure can be represented with a symbol structure that is completely
compatible with the way a computer handles symbols. Such structuring
has immensely greater potential for accurately mapping a complex
concept structure than does the structure which an individual might
practically construct and use on paper. A computer can transform back

20

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

21

and forth between some limited view of the total structure as represented
by a two-dimensional portrayal on a screen, and an aspect of the n-
dimensional internal image that represents this “view/’ If the human
adds to or modifies such a “view,” the computer integrates the change
into the internal-image symbol structure (in terms of the computer’s
favored symbols and structuring), and thereby can automatically detect
a certain proportion of his possible conceptual inconsistencies. The
human need no longer work on rigid and limited symbol structures, where
much of the conceptual content can only be implicitly designated in an
indirect and distributed fashion.

Many radical new ways of matching the dynamics of our symbol
structuring to those of our concept structuring are basically available
with today’s technology. Their exploration would be most stimulating,
and potentially very rewarding.

5.2.4. Process Structuring. Essentially everything that goes on
within the H-LAM/T system (in relation to our direct interest here)
involves the manipulation of concept and symbol structures in service to
the human’s mental structure. Therefore the processes within the
H-LAM/T system that we are most interested in developing are those
that provide for the manipulation of all three types of structure. This
brings us to the fourth category of structuring, namely, process
structuring.

As we currently use it, the term process structuring includes the
organization, study, modification, and execution of processes and process
structures. Whereas concept structuring and symbol structuring together
represent the language component of our augmentation means, process
structuring represents primarily the methodology component.

Many of the process structures are applied to the task of organizing,
executing, supervising, and evaluating other process structures. Others
are applied to the formation and manipulation of symbol structures (the
purpose of which will often be to support the conceptual labor involved
in process structuring).

5.2.5. Physical Structuring. Physical structuring, the last of the
five types which we currently use in our conceptual framework, is nearly
self-explanatory. It represents the artifact component of our augmenta¬
tion means, insofar as the actual manifestation and organization of the
physical devices are concerned.

5.2.6. Interdependence and Regeneration. An important feature
to be noted from the foregoing discussion is the interdependence among
the various types of structuring which are involved in the H-LAM/T
system, where the capability for doing each type of structuring is depen¬
dent upon the capability of achieving one or more of the other types of
structuring. (Assuming that the physical structuring of the system

FRAMEWORK FOR THE AGUMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT

remains basically unchanged during the system’s operation, we exclude
its dependence on other factors in this discussion.) This interdependence
has a cyclic, regenerative nature which is very significant. A good portion
of the capability for mental structuring is finally dependent on the
process structuring (human, artifact, composite) that enables symbol-
structure manipulation. But it also is evident that this process structuring
is dependent not only on basic human and artifact process capabilities
but also on the ability of the human to learn how to execute processes
and—no less important—on the ability of the human to select, organize,
and modify processes from his repertory to structure a higher-order
process that he can execute. Thus capability for structuring and executing
processes is partially dependent on the human’s mental structuring,
which, in turn, is partially dependent on his process structuring (through
concept and symbol structuring), which is partially dependent on his
mental structuring, etc.

This means that a significant improvement in symbol-structure
manipulation through better process structuring (initially perhaps
through much better artifacts) should enable us to develop improvements
in concept and mental-structure manipulations that can in turn enable
us to organize and execute symbol-manipulation processes of increased
power.

When considering the possibilities of computerlike devices for aug¬
menting human capabilities, often only the one-pass improvement is
visualized. This presents a relatively barren picture in comparison with
that which- emerges on consideration of regenerative interaction.

5.3. Roles .\nd Levels. In the repertory hierarchy of capabilities
possessed by the H-LAM/T system, the human contributes many types
of capability that represent a wide variety of roles. At one time or
another he will be the policy maker, the goal setter, the performance
supervisor, the work scheduler, the professional specialist, the clerk, the
janitor, the entrepreneur and the proprietor (or at least a major stock¬
holder) of the system. In the midst of some complex process, in fact, he
may well be in several roles concurrently—or at least have the responsi¬
bility of the roles. For example, usually he must be aware of his progress
toward a goal (supervisor), he must be alert to the possibilities for
changing the goal (policy maker, planner), and he must keep records for
these ami other roles (clerk).

A given capability at some level in the repertory hierarchy seems to
include standard grouping of lower-order capabilities which can be
viewed as existing in two classes—an executive class and a direct-
cdntributive class. In the executive class are capabilities for compre¬
hending, planning, and executing the process. In the direct-contributive
class are the capabilities organized by the executive class toward the
direct realization of the higher-order capability. For example, when the

22

23

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

telephone rings, direct-contributive processes are picking up the receiver
and saying '‘hello/' The executive processes comprehended the situation,
directed a lower-order executive-process that the receiver be picked up
and, when the receiver was in place (first process accomplished), directed
the next process—the saying of “hello/' This represents the composition
of the capability for answering the telephone.

At a little higher level of capability, more of the conscious conceptual
and executive capabilities become involved. To telephone someone, there
must be conscious comprehension of the need for this process and how
it can be executed.

At a still higher level of capability, the executive capabilities must
have a degree of power that cannot be provided by unaided mental
capabilities. In such a case, a sequence of steps might be drafted and
checked off as each is executed. For an even more complex process,
comprehending the situation in which the process is to be executed—
before even beginning to plan the execution—may take months of labor
and a very complex organization of the system's capabilities.

At any particular moment the H-LAM/T system is usually in the
middle of executing a great number of processes. For example, the human
in the process of making a telephone call may be in the middle of the
process of calling a committee meeting which could be a sub-process of
the process of estimating manpower needs, and so on.

Not only does the human need to play various roles (sometimes
concurrently) in the execution of any given process, but he is playing
these roles for the many concurrent processes that are being executed at
different levels. This situation is typical for individuals engaged in
reasonably demanding types of professional pursuits, and yet they have
never received explicit training in optimum ways of performing any but
a very few of the roles at a very few of the levels. A well-designed H-
LAM/T system would provide explicit and effective concepts, terms,
equipment, and methods for all these roles, and for their dynamic
coordination.

5.4. Model of Executive Superstructure. It is the repertory
hierarchy of process capabilities upon which the ultimate capability of
the H-LAM/T system rests. This repertory hierarchy is rather like a
mountain of white-collar talent that sits atop and controls the talents of
the “workers." We can illustrate executive superstructure by considering
it as though it were a network of contractors and subcontractors in which
each capability in the repertory hierarchy is represented by an inde¬
pendent contractor whose mode of operation is to do the planning, make
up specifications, subcontract the actual work, and supervise the per¬
formance of his subcontractors. This means that each subcontractor does
the same thing in his turn. At the bottom of this heirarchy are those
independent contractors who do actual “production work."

framework for the augmentation of man's intellect

If by some magical process the production workers could still know
just what to do and when to do it even though the superstructure of
contractors was removed from above them, no one would know the
difference. The executive superstructure is there because humans do not
operate by magic, but even a necessary superstructure is a burden. We
can readily recognize that there are many ways to organize and manage
such a superstructure, resulting in vastly different degrees of efficiency
in the application of the workers' talents.

Suppose that the applicable talent available to the total system is
limited. The problem is one of distributing that talent between super¬
structure and workers for maximum total production and efficiency.
This situation has close parallel to the H-LAM/T system in its pursuit
of comprehension and problem solutions. Closer parallel exists by
postulating for the contractor model that the thinking, planning, super¬
vising, record keeping, etc., for each contractor is done by a single
individual who time-shares his attention and talents over the various
tasks of the entire superstructure.

Today's individual does not have special training for many of the
roles he plays, and he is likely to learn them by cut-and-try and indirect
imitation processes. The H-LAM/T system also often executes a complex
process in multipass fashion (i.e., cut-and-try). This approach permits
freedom of action which is important to the effectiveness of the system
with respect to the outside world. We could expect significant gains from
automating the H-LAM/T system if a computer did no more than
increase the effectiveness of the executive processes. More human time,
energy, and productive thought could be allocated to direct-contributive
processes, which could be coordinated in a more sophisticated, flexible
and efficient manner. But there is every reason to believe that the
possibilities for much-improved process structuring that would stem from
this automation could in turn provide significant improvements in both
the executive and direct-contributive processes in the system.

5.5. Symbol Structures. The executive superstructure is a neces¬
sary component in the H-LAM/T system, and there is finite human
capability which must be divided between executive and direct-contrib¬
utive activities. An important aspect of the multirole activity of the
human in the system is the development and manipulation of the symbol
structures associated with both his direct-contributive roles and his
executive roles.

When the system encounters a complex situation in which compre¬
hension and problem solutions are being pursued, the direct-contributive
roles require the development of symbol structures that portray the
concepts involved within the situation. But executive roles in a complex
problem situation also require conceptual activity—e.g,, comprehension,
selection, supervision—that can benefit from well-designed symbol

24

25

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

structures and fast, flexible means for manipulating and displaying them.
For complex processes, the executive problem posed to the human (of
gaining the necessary comprehension and making a good plan) may be
more difficult intellectually than the problem faced in the role of direct-
contributive worker. If the flexibility desired for the process hierarchies
(to make room for human cut-and*try methods) is not to be degraded or
abandoned, the executive activity will have to be provided with fast and
flexible symbol structuring techniques.

The means available to humans today for developing and manipulating
symbol structures are both laborious and inflexible. To develop an initial
structure of diagrams and text is difficult, but because the cost of frequent
changes is often prohibitive, one settles for inflexibility. Also, the flexi¬
bility that would be truly helpful requires added symbol structuring
just to keep track of the trials, branches, and reasoning thereto that are
involved in the development of the subject structure. Present symbol-
manipulation means would soon bog down completely among the
complexities that are involved in being more than just a little bit flexible.

In H-LAM/T systems, individuals work essentially continuously
within a symbol structure of some sort, shifting their attention from one
structure to another as they guide and execute the processes that ulti¬
mately provide them with the comprehension and the problem solutions
they seek. This view emphasizes the essential importance of the basic
capability of composing and modifying efficient symbol structures. Such
a capability depends heavily on the particular concepts isolated and
manipulated as entities, on the symbology used to represent them, on
the artifacts that help to manipulate and display the symbols, and on
the methodology for developing and using symbol structures. In other
words, this capability depends heavily on proper language, artifacts,
and methodology, our basic augmentation means.

The course of action which must respond to new comprehension, new
insights, and new intuitive flashes of possible explanations or solutions is
not an orderly process. Existing means of composing and working with
symbol structures penalize disorderly processes heavily. It is part of the
real promise of the automated H-LAM/T systems of tomorrow that the
human can have the freedom and power of disorderly processes.

5.6. Compound Effects. Since processes in many levels of the
hierarchy are involved in the execution of a single higher-level process of
the system, any factor that influences process execution in general will
have a highly compounded total effect on the system’s performance.
There are several such factors that merit special attention.

Basic human cognitive powers, such as memory, intelligence, or
pattern perception can have such a compounded effect. The augmentation
means employed today have generally evolved among large statistical

framework for the augmentation of man’s intellect

populations, and no attempt has been made to fit them to individual
needs and abilities. Each individual tends to evolve his own variations,
but there is not enough mutation and selection activity, nor enough
selection feedback, to permit very significant changes. A good, automated
H-LAM/T system should provide the opportunity for a significant
adaptation of the augmentation means to individual characteristics. The
compounding effect of fundamental human cognitive powers suggests
further that systems designed for maximum effectiveness would require
that these powers be developed as fully as possible—by training, special
mental tricks, improved language, new methodology.

In the automated system contemplated here, the human should be
able to draw on the explicit-artifact process capability at many levels in
the repertory hierarchy. Today, artifacts are involved explicitly in only
the lower-order capabilities. In future systems it should be possible for
computer processes to provide direct manipulative service in the execu¬
tive symbol structures at all the higher levels, which promises a com¬
pounding of the effect a computer may have.

Another factor capable of exerting a compound effect on over-all
system performance is the human’s unconscious processes. Clinical
psychology seems to provide clear evidence that a large proportion of a
human’s everyday activity is significantly mediated or basically prompted
by unconscious mental processes that, although “natural” in a functional
sense, are not rational. Observable mechanisms of these processes
(observable by a trained person) include an individual’s masking of the
irrationality of his actions, and the construction of self-satisfying
rationales for any action that could be challenged. Anything that might
have so general an effect on our mental actions as implied here is a
candidate for ultimate consideration in the continuing development of
our intellectual effectiveness. It may be that the first stages of research
on augmenting the human intellect will have to proceed without coping
with this problem except to accommodate to it as well as possible. This
may be one of the significant problems whose solution awaits our develop¬
ment of increased intellectual effectiveness.

OTHER RELATED THOUGHT AND WORK

When we began our search, we found much literature of general
significance to our objective—frankly, one is tempted to say too much.
Without a conceptual framework we could not efficiently filter out the
significant kernels of fact and concept from the huge mass which we
initially collected as a “natural first step” in our search. We feel rather
unscholarly not to have buttressed our conceptual framework with
plentiful reference to supporting work, but in truth it was too difficult
to do. Developing the conceptual structure represented a sweeping

26

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

synthesis job full of personal constructs from smatterings picked up in
many places. Under these conditions, giving reference to a back-up
source would usually entail qualifying footnotes reflecting an unusual
interpretation or exonerating the cited author from the implications we
derived from his work. We look forward to a stronger, more compre¬
hensive, and more scholarly presentation evolving out of future work.

However, we do want to acknowledge thoughts and work we have
come across that bear most directly upon the possibilities of using a
computer in real-time working association with a human to improve his
working effectiveness. These findings fall into two categories. The first,
which would include the present report, offers speculations and possi¬
bilities but does not include reporting of significant experimental results.
Of these, Bush® is the earliest and one of the most directly stimulating.
Licklider,® who provides the most general clear case for the modern
computer, coined the expression man-computeT symbiosis to refer to
the close interaction relationship between the man and computer in
mutually beneficial cooperation. Ulam^ has specifically recommended
close man-computer interaction in a chapter entitled ‘‘Synergesis,*’ where
he points out in considerable detail the types of mathematical work
which could be aided. Good‘S includes some conjecture about the possi¬
bilities of intellectual aid to the human by close cooperation with a
computer in a rather general way, and also presents a few interesting
thoughts about a network model for structuring the conceptual kernels
of information to facilitate a sort of self-organizing retrieval system.
Ramo has given a number of talks dealing with the future possibilities
of computers for ‘‘extending man^s intellect,” and wrote several
articles.^His projections seem slanted more toward larger bodies of
humans interacting with computers, in less of an intimate personal sense
than the above papers or than our initial goal. Fein,^^ in making a
comprehensive projection of the growth and dynamic interrelatedness of
“computer-related sciences,” includes specific mention of the enhance¬
ment of human intellect by cooperative activity of men, mechanisms,
and automata. Fein coined the term synnoetics as applicable generally to
the cooperative interaction of people, mechanisms, plant or animal
organisms, and automata into a system whose mental power is greater
than that of its components; he presents a good picture of the integrated
way in which many currently separate disciplines should be developed
and taught in the future to do justice to their mutual roles in the im¬
portant discipline defined as “synnoetics.”

In the second category, there have been a few papers published recently
describing actual work that bears directly upon our topic. Licklider and
Clark, 12 and Culler and Huff,i^ at the 1962 Spring Joint Computer
Conference, gave what are essentially progress reports of work going on
now in exactly this sort of thing—a human with a computer-backed

FRAMEWORK FOR THE AUGMENTATION OF MAN’S INTELLECT 27

display getting minute-by-minute help in solving problems. Teageri'*-*®
reports on the plans and current development of a large time-sharing
system at M.I.T., which is planned to provide direct computer access
for a number of outlying stations located in scientists’ offices, giving each
of these users a chance for real-time utilization of the computer.

There are several efforts we have heard about but for which there are
either no publications or for which none have been discovered by us.
Just before the deadline date, we have received two publications from the
M.I.T. Electronic Systems Laboratory; an Interim Engineering Report
(of work done over two years ago), “Investigations In Computer-Aided
Design,” appears to contain much detailed analysis of applied work in
close man-computer cooperation. A Technical Memorandum, “Method
for Computer Visualization,” by A. F. Smith, apparently elaborates on
Chapter VII of the Interim Report. These documents seem extremely
relevant. Mr. Douglas Ross, of the M.I.T. Electronic Systems Labora¬
tory has, we have recently learned, been thinking and working on
real-time man-machine interaction problems for some years. In addition,
an M.I.T. graduate student, Glenn Randa,^® developed the design of a
remote display console under Ross for his graduate thesis project. We
understand that another M.I.T. graduate student, Ivan Sutherland, is
currently using the display-computer facility on the TX-2 computer at
Lincoln Laboratory to develop cooperative techniques for engineering
design problems. At the RAND Corporation, Cliff Shaw, Tom I llis, and
Keith Uncapher have been involved in implementing a multistation
time-sharing system built around their JOHNNIAC computer. Termed
the JOHNNIAC Open-Shop System (JOSS for short), it apparently is
near completion, and will use remote typewriter stations.

Undoubtedly there are other efforts falling into either or both cate¬
gories that have been overlooked. Such oversight has not been intentional,
and it is hoped that these researchers will make their pertinent work
known to the present writer.

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This paper states the hypothesis that the intellectual effectiveness of
an individual is dependent on factors which are subject to direct redesign
in pursuit of an increase in that effectiveness. A conceptual framework is
offered to help in giving consideration to this hypothesis. The framework
in part derives from recognition that human intellect is already “aug¬
mented,” and incorporates the following attributes:

1. As principal elements, the language, artifacts, and methodology
which man has learned to use.

2. Dynamic interdependence of the elements within an operating
system.

VISTAS IN INFORMATION HANDLING

3. A hierarchical system structure, best considered a hierarchy of
process capabilities whose primitive components are the basic human
capabilities and the functional capabilities of the artifacts, organized
into increasingly sophisticated capabilities.

4. As capabilities of primary interest, those associated with manipu¬
lating symbols and concepts in support of organizing and executing
processes from which are ultimately derived human comprehension and
problem solutions.

The framework also pictures the development of automated symbol
manipulation to accommodate minute-by-minute mental processes as a
significant means of increasing intellectual capability. This can be
a logical next step in the cultural evolution of the means by which
humans can match their mental capabilities against their problems. This
approach pertains to any problem area in which the human does his
thinking with concepts that he can express in words, charts, or any other
explicit symbol forms.

If the hypothesis and extrapolations discussed here and elsewhere
(AFOSR 3223) are substantiated in future developments, the conse¬
quences will be exciting and assumedly beneficial to a problem-laden
world. What is needed now is a test of this hypothesis and a calibration
on the gains, if any, that might be realized by giving total-system design
attention to human intellectual effectiveness. If the test and calibration
prove favorable, then better and better augmentation systems could be
developed for our problem solvers.

In this light, a research program is recommended aimed at (a) testing
the hypothesis, (b) developing the tools and techniques for designing
better augrnentation systems, and (c) providing feal-world augmentation
systems. These goals are idealized, but results in these directions are
nonetheless valuable. The apporach should be on an empirical, total-
system basis, i.e., coordinated study and innovation among all the
factors admitted to the problem in conjunction with experiments that
provide realistic action and interplay among the variables. The recom¬
mended environment for this approach is a laboratory with a computer-
backed display and communication system. The experimental work of
deriving, testing, and integrating innovations into a growing system of
augmentation means is helped by having a specific type of human task
on which to operate. From a long-range research-program point of view,
characteristics of the task of computer programming make it particularly
attractive as the initial such specific task.

In our view, we do not have to suspend such research until we learn
how human mental processes work. We do not have to wait until we
learn how to make computers more '‘intelligent.” We can begin develop-
powerful and economically feasible augmentation systems on the

framework for the augmentation of man's intellect 29

basis of what we now know and have. We will want to integrate further
basic knowledge and improved machines into existing augmentation
systems. However, getting started now will provide not only orientation
and stimulation for these pursuits, but also better problem-solving
effectiveness with which to carry out such pursuits.

REFERENCES

1. Ashby, W, Ross, Design for a Brain, 2d ed., John Wiley fis Sons, Inc,, New
York, 1960.

2 ^ -^ Design for an Intelligence Amplified, Automatic Studies, C. E.

Shannon and J. McCarthy, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N.J., 1956,
pp. 215-234.

3. Korzybski, A., Science and Sanity, International Non-Aristotelian Library
Publishing Company, Lancaster, Pa., 1933.

4. Whorf, B. L., Language, Thought, and Reality, M.I.T. and John Wiley fit
Sons, Inc., New York, 1956.

5. Bush, Vannevar, “As We May Think,” The Atlantic Monthly July, 1945.

6. Licklider, J. C. R.. “Man-Computer Symbiosis,” IRE Transactions on
Human Factors in Electronics, March, 1960.

7. Ulam, S. M., A Collection of Mathematical Problems, Interscience
Publishers, Inc., New York, 1960, p. 135,

8. Good, I. J., “How Much Science Can You Have at Your Fingertips?” IBM
Journal of Research and Development, October, 1958.

9. Ramo, Simon, “A New Technique of Education,” IRE Transactions on
Education, June, 1958.

10 -^ “The Scientific Extension of the Human Intellect,” Computers and

Automation, February, 1961.

11. Fein, Louis, “The Computer-Related Science (Synnoetics) at a University in
the Year 1975,” unpublished paper, December, 1960.

12. Licklider, J. C. R., and W. E. Clark, “On-Line Man-Computer Communica¬
tion,” Proceedings Spring Joint Computer Conference, National Press,
Palo Alto, Calif., May, 1962.

13. Culler, G. J., and R. W. Huff, “Solution of Non-Linear Integral Equations
Using On-Line Computer Control,” paper for presentation at S.J.C.C., San
Francisco, Ramo-Wooldridge, Canoga Park, Calif., May, 1962,

14. Teager, H. M., “Real-Time, Time-Shared Computer Project,” report, M.I.T.
Contract # Nonr-184l(69) DSR #8644, July 1, 1961.

15 ^ -^ “Systems Considerations in Real-Time Computer Usage,” paper

presented at ONR Symposium on Automated Teaching, Oct. 12, 1961.

16. Randa, Glenn C., “Design of a Remote Display Console,” Report ESL-R-132,
M.I.T. Cambridge, Mass., February, 1962, available through ASTIA.